Mistakes

[Blue_Mist]

I guess anyone at Silicon Valley in 2006 may remember this- our robot was doing really well, got picked by the Cheesy Poofs, and then in one after-lunch match, one of our wires connected with the battery and our robot literally burst into flame. Already one person on our team was running to the robot with a fire extinguisher, but luckily fire went out before extinguisher was necessary. Phlebas the Informer/Transformer was nicknamed Smoky Bear (our team name is M-A Bears, nicknamed Ma Bears in 2006).

Lesson- always recheck wires before quarters, semis or finals, because that's when Murphy's law really kicks into gear.

Oh yea, speaking of Murphy's Law, there was a time a mistake qualified as Epic Fail. Also in 2006, we were doing well at Cal Games when during the semis, every single ball bearing broke at the same time. We only found out when our robot began leaking little steel balls everywhere... and couldn't move.

Lesson- make sure your sizes are right! The whole season, summer and qualifying matches the spacers on the bearings were too big and ground into the bearings every time we moved. The final crash was just too much for said bearings.